Yusuf’s sudden departure had raised eyebrows earlier in the week when he said that working to get Reform UK elected was “no longer a good use of my time”, without offering further explanation.
Zia Yusuf, who dramatically resigned as Reform UK chairman on Thursday, is returning to the party in a new, more public-facing role. As reported by BBC News, Yusuf will now lead Reform’s newly launched “Doge team” – a unit modelled on Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency – which aims to identify cost-saving measures in local councils where the party has gained control.
Yusuf’s sudden departure had raised eyebrows earlier in the week when he said that working to get Reform UK elected was “no longer a good use of my time”, without offering further explanation. However, just two days later, he reversed his decision, citing exhaustion and emotional strain after nearly a year of non-stop voluntary work.
In a social media post on X, Yusuf revealed that his initial decision to quit had been driven by burnout: “After 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single day off, my tweet was a decision born of exhaustion.” He added that he had been flooded with messages encouraging him to stay and reaffirmed his commitment to the party’s cause, saying he still believed “Nigel Farage was the man to lead the country.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the BBC he was “delighted” by Yusuf’s return and acknowledged the intense pressure he had been under. “Zia regrets what he said and did the other day. It was a combination of 11 months of hard work and exhaustion,” Farage said. “I would credit much of the success we enjoyed on 1 May and since to his considerable efforts.”
Farage also addressed the online abuse Yusuf has received, particularly around sensitive topics such as Islam and the burka. “Any discussion around Islam, terrorism, in this case the burka – and he can’t win,” Farage told BBC News. “He is subjected to pretty vile abuse. Some of it is from the alt-right, but a lot are bots trying to damage Reform. He regrets it and wants to continue working for us.”
Yusuf’s resignation came shortly after he criticised Sarah Pochin, the Reform councillor who won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Pochin sparked controversy by asking Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during PMQs to consider a burka ban in the UK – a stance not held by Reform UK. Yusuf had called it “dumb for a party to ask the PM to do something it wouldn’t do itself.”
Farage dismissed suggestions that Yusuf’s resignation and return indicated disarray within the party. “We will emerge from this much stronger,” he insisted, adding that Yusuf would now take on a more defined and sustainable role. “His previous workload was way too much for anybody.”
Opposition parties, however, mocked the quick U-turn. Labour branded the episode a “humiliating hokey-cokey”, while the Liberal Democrats called it a game of “musical chairman”.
Yusuf, a former banker and tech entrepreneur who previously belonged to the Conservative Party, joined Reform UK shortly after last year’s general election and was considered instrumental to its organisational build-up.
As the party formalises its new “Doge UK” initiative, more appointments are expected. Reform UK confirmed that a new chairman and deputy chairman will be named in the coming days as part of what it called an “expanded management structure”.
